Ina Garten and Alec Baldwin have joined forces for the charity event, Barefoot Under the Stars, which has helped raise $600,000 for conservation and environmental protection groups that work to restore habitats along eastern Long Island.

Sandra Lee has agreed to a deal with Hyperion and the Disney Interactive Media Group that would include the publication of five new books. In addition to the books, Sandra will produce a series of 15 online videos expected to launch this fall, around the same time as the publication of her lifestyle book and the first of two cookbooks. Later, she’ll publish two food-themed novels with recipes.

Guy Fieri opened up his garage in a recent interview with AutoTrader.com. His favorite, a ’71 Chevelle, was purchased by saving up money he placed in a boot in his closet for two and a half years — he’s vowed to never sell it. His current garage is filled with numerous cars — find out what they are and what car he’s still looking for on AutoTrader.com.

Cleveland.com reported that Iron Chef Michael Symon’sLola Bistro earned its first AAA 4-diamond rating, the second highest award given to hotels and restaurants. Chef Symon had made it a goal to receive this honor and was excited to learn he achieved it. Also, a new location of B-spot, his burger restaurant, is now open in Strongsville, Ohio. The Strongsville Patch reported crowds gathering for opening day and excited customers eager to sample the chef’s award winning burgers. A third B-spot location at Crocker Park in Westlake is scheduled to open in July, as the chef continues to expand his culinary presence in the Cleveland area.

Guy Fieri tweeted about a special meal he was preparing and asked his fans on twitter to guess the name of the honored guest at a surprise birthday dinner for a “Hall of Famer”. He later posted photos of the event celebrating John Madden’s 75th birthday, with Madden dressed in one of his signature knuckle sandwich chef jackets.

I’ve totally been wrapped up in The Next Food Network Star (NFNS) these last few weeks. (Who’s your fave?) While watching this season, I started wondering what was up with last season’s winner, Aaron McCargo Jr. Well, Big Daddy is in the house!

Yesterday I snagged Aaron for some water-cooler chat about his new season of Big Daddy’s House and the current season of NFNS.

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SECRETARY CONFIDENTIAL: You’re about to hit your one-year anniversary here at Food Network. Looking back over the past year, is there anything you didn’t expect would be a part of the experience?

AARON: I can’t say there have been any real downs, but I will say that I didn’t understand the flow of everything at first, the demand of my time. I hope to speak to The Next Food Network Star winner at some point, and offer what I’ve learned through all my bumps and bruises, as well as share my high fives. But I can’t call this work–it’s so much fun.

SC: Have you been keeping up with this new season of NFNS?

A: Oh, yes! I’ll be honest with you, it’s kind of tough to watch. It’s so surreal for me. My wife sits there with the kids watching with me, I look over, and I catch her tearing up all over again. I always tell people, it’s night-and-day different from doing NFNS to Big Daddy’s House. On NFNS you don’t have a clue as to what you’re going to do, what the challenge will be, or whether you’re going to be sent home. You can never relax. At Big Daddy’s I can now relax and enjoy it.

SC: So, if you were competing this season, who do you think would be your biggest competition?

Talk about kitchen envy. Ina now shoots in her elegantly welcoming kitchen on her property in East Hampton, New York. I keep hoping she’ll adopt me. Paula also shoots in her gorgeous and gracious home in Savannah. The Neelys have just begun to shoot in their brand new home in Memphis.

Bobby, Giada, Ingrid, and Aaron shoot in real homes, but not theirs, either because their kitchen wasn’t quite right to shoot in, or they preferred not to. Believe me, I wouldn’t want hundreds of pounds of equipment and dozens of crew members tearing up my kitchen either.

Tyler shoots in a studio kitchen that was designed to resemble the kitchen he had at his NYC apartment, before he moved to California. Giada now shoots in a studio in Los Angeles on a set that is inspired by her airy new home kitchen. Sunny, Sandra, Aida, Anne & Guy shoot either in our studios here in Chelsea Market, or close by.

Please tell me you don’t throw out extra food on your cooking shows.

Not a chance. We work with a fantastic group called City Harvest to donate some of the food to local shelters. Some prepared food goes to feed our crew and kitchen staff. The only food that is disposed of is that food deemed unsafe to eat because it has sat out too long under hot lights.

Why didn’t you respond to my e-mail?

Rest assured we read every single message. But the sheer number — 20,000 a month — means that unfortunately we can’t answer every single one.

Want to be our next star? Time is running out for aspiring The Next Food Network Star 5 contestants. Fire up your stove, your camera, your best dish and send it in.

If you missed the memo, casting submissions are still being accepted until November 14, 2008. Get the full details on what you need to know and how you need to do it. If you need inspiration, watch a few entries first.

Want some other shots to land on Food Network?
Check out the full list of upcoming opportunities to be on-air.